Saturday, November 19, 2011
Our drive from Coffee bay to Durban was extremely hectic. The roads were down to only 2 lanes and the fog was very unusual. With pumper to bumper traffic, mostly logging trucks, we were following maybe 40kmh. We had a long stretch of road ahead of us and meeting a friend in Durban. The fog was so bad at times that we couldn't even see the truck only a few meters in front of us. This went on for most of our drive, only clearing up in patches for a few seconds. The glimpses of our surroundings would make us wish to see more, but then it was quickly back to zero visibility, and faint red tail-lights of the truck in front. Rain would also come into the mix at some parts of the ride. Of course, I had the pleasure of driving in these awesome conditions. I can't remember how long this trip lasted for, but by the time we were near Durban I was ready to never sit in a car again. Still raining, we met with a friend near the Durban coast and he then directed us to a place to grab some food together. There we had a nice chat and caught up on our journeys. I remember having a delicious salad in a large nacho-made bowl. Since the weather was still crap, we decided to skip the Durban nightlife. We left it for another visit when returning to South Africa. Once we said our fair-wells, we hit the road for another 30 minute drive to Ballito (my choice) for a rest (in support of a friend and his hostel). By the time we arrived it was too dark to see my most favourite backpacker, but I was sure Dan would agree with me when he would see the place in the day-time.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
I made friends with the owner of Monkey Bay Backpacker during a very random stay in Ballito with Heidi. We were making our way back from Mozambique, and happen to stay one night at this hostel. I enjoyed the place so much that I had to visit one last time before leaving South Africa. During my trip with Dan, Ballito happened to be on our way, so why not spend the night at Monkey bay ?! The morning was still overcast, so we spend most of it planning what to do on our last days in SA. The owner was super nice, and helped us plan out a few things, and even suggested places to stay once there.
There was still so many things to see and visit but as always we made a general list and figured we would cover as much as our energy could handle. We decided on visiting St. Lucia as there were hippos and Safari adventures waiting. Then we would see if the Drakensberg or Johannesburg or a pub located at the highest altitude in Lesotho would be our final destination before flying back to CT. By the time we collected all these activities, it was already past 11AM, and nothing had been packed. As always, we are rushing to get things done in Durban before driving to St. Lucia.
See 'ya later Ballito!
We had to extend our car rental at the Durban airport, so we decided to get information about the hippo tours as well (hoping to save time). By this time it was 2pm and the guy at the information desk was kind enough to call for us and let us speak with one of the tour companies. The lady on the other end of the phone told us: "From the Durban airport you are 3 hours away. Our last tour is at 4pm. Are you sure you can be on time? Our boat cannot wait." I told the lady not to worry, and that we will meet her at exactly 4pm. I can't remember if it was still raining on this day, but I was pushing 140kmh hoping we could make a suggested 3 hour distance in only 2. Hippos here we come!
Our adventures through SA was not exactly my genuine 'running photography club' (invented during my travels in Australia, and it is exactly what it sounds like) as we were driving most days. But I believe we had very similar moments when rushing from point A to point B while taking footage on the go. Nothing would stop us from seeing hippos on this day. In less than 2 hours (beating our own expected drive time) we were in the parking lot where the tour boats were docked. We were proud of our accomplishment, let me tell you. Not wanting to miss out, we decided to pay the guide and not bother finding the tour office (they knew we would be coming, and not sell out). Once on the water, we were so glad that we made it on time (we were by far the youngest of all the tourists, and stayed awake till the very end of it all, as some enjoyed a nap during the boat ride).
For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious Brazilian sea food restaurant. We ordered everything seafood, and when it was all gone I could have ordered everything second time around. Unfortunately the dessert was not as tasty.
Tuesday, November 21, 2011
Before leaving for our Safari adventures, we had the pleasure of meet the hostel's dear pet. Meet Pancetta aka:Bacon. He has been with the owner since he was a little piggy, and now, well much more grown. The second picture is a warning at a gas station. Market ladies were asked to keep their goods away from stores and gas stations and sell them at the designated markets only.
Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Game Reserve
After an hour drive, we were near the Game reserves. The Main road was open to large trucks and everyone going to and from places. The first few pictures are on this main highway, scary to think these beautiful animals are roaming near this highway. Thinking back to the amount of road kill I have seen in Canada and Australia, I would hate to have a collision with any of the African large animals. They are too precious, and well, large !!! At the end of these set of pictures I wrote a *note listing some of the animals you see here. Good luck connecting the names with the pictures :-)
Yet another day with overcast, but warm and humid.
We enjoyed the drive and the animals were calm and mostly sleeping. You can see a few of them walking on the main road, but we were patient and waited till they would slowly move over. However, the rain arrived with little warning. All the animals were standing at this point. We didn't know want to expect so we kept driving slowly keeping our eyes open in case they started running. The impalas and Blue wildebeest you see near the road were steady, until a bunch of other animals started running, setting off these guys. As we were driving slowly, we were hoping that nothing would run into us. The scariest moment was when two antelopes came out of nowhere and they split around the car. One ran in front and one ran behind Figo. Or maybe they were zebras. I can't remember as it happened so fast. Figo and us made it out of the game reserve fine, but it was a little scary to see the animals getting nervous by the weather change.
*Note the animals in this blog: African elephant, black and white rhino, hippopotamus, Chacma baboon, buffalo, Blue wildebeest, impala, velvet monkey, Burchell's zebra, African lion, bushpig, warthog, South Africa's dung beetle, yellow-weaver, purple and Goliath heron, a hawk (or falcon, I can't remember), and many other birds that I cannot even begin to list. Giraffes were no where to be seen, but we were happy to have seen as much as this. Also, The Big Five, minus a leopard, as we did not do a night Safari.
Wednesday, November 22, 2011
We decided to leave St. Lucia the next day as we have enjoyed enough of the wild adventure drives. We would head back to Balliot and hope for a sunny day at the beach. We visited the beach front in St. Lucia, but it was too windy to stay for long. And to our continued unlucky weather experience, it was overcast in Ballito when we arrived. We enjoyed the largest pork feast I have ever ordered. When I asked the waiter if my Eisben was a typical size, she told me that mine was a little larger than usual.
Thursday, November 23, 2011
So, we had to get the car cleaned before our flight. It took us a good hour of sitting around, as we were told the cleaning would take 20 minutes. Well, it took longer. Dan decided to air out his laundry while we waited.
Once on the plane, hungry, we enjoyed what last snack we had left over from under the car seat. Nik Nacks, yum ! And just like that, we were Figo-less, and flying back to Cape Town, for what I assumed, would be a relaxing last few days. (Myth will be busted in the final DnR blog)
The final post on DnR's travels will follow.
R :-)
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